Erin Hunter - Sunset

Leafpool gazed at her. Warmth flooded through her at the thought that her friend trusted her enough to tell her the truth. Following it came icy terror. Oh, StarClan, give me the right words!

As Leafpool hesitated, Mothwing shrank back. “What are you going to do?” she whimpered. “Will you tell the others?

Will I have to stop being a medicine cat?”

“Of course not.” Leafpool pressed against her friend again, touching her nose to her ear. “Mothwing, I already knew.”

Mothwing’s eyes stretched even wider. “You knew ? How?”

“Spottedleaf sent me a sign. And… and I heard Hawkfrost talking to you after the last Gathering.”

“Hawkfrost!” Mothwing’s tone was bitter. “He keeps threatening to tell every cat unless I do what he wants. He made me lie at the Gathering. I never had that dream—but you know that too, don’t you?”

Leafpool nodded.

“I wanted to be a medicine cat so much! And at first I tried to believe in StarClan, I really did. When Mudfur took me to the Moonstone I thought I had a dream where I met some cats from StarClan, and they showed me things that were happening in the forest. Then when I got back to RiverClan, Hawkfrost told me what he’d done with the moth’s wing. And I realized that StarClan must be just a story and that everything I had seen was only an ordinary dream. Because if StarClan really existed, they wouldn’t let him do such a wicked thing or torment me like this!”

Leafpool stroked Mothwing’s shoulder with the tip of her tail. Her insides churned with anger, but she fought to hide it from her friend. Now she knew she had been right to mistrust Hawkfrost. He had destroyed his sister’s faith, crippling her as a medicine cat when she had so much to offer with her healing skills.

“It’s all right,” she murmured. “Believe me, all will be well.”

“How can it?” Mothwing protested. “I should have told every cat the truth right away. But I couldn’t give up being a medicine cat. I love healing so much and I wanted to help my Clanmates. And now it’s too late. If I tell them what happened, they’ll drive me out, and I’ve nowhere else to go.”

“You don’t have to go anywhere,” Leafpool promised.

“Spottedleaf told me that StarClan want you to stay where you are and do what you’ve always done. She said you can be a great medicine cat and you deserve your place at the Moonpool.”

For a heartbeat hope flared in Mothwing’s eyes, as if she wanted to believe what Leafpool told her. Then she shook her head. “It’s kind of you to say that, but I know it isn’t true.

Oh, I don’t think you’re lying,” she added hastily, “but it was just a dream.” She sighed. “But if you really think I should, I’ll carry on. Only, how am I going to mentor Willowpaw properly? I don’t know what to tell her about StarClan.”

“But I do,” Leafpool pointed out. “I’ll teach her what she needs to know about them and walk with her in dreams. And you can show her all the herbs and how to use them. She’ll be a wonderful apprentice.”

Mothwing’s head drooped. “I don’t deserve her,” she whispered. After a moment she lifted her head again, a new determination in her eyes. “But I’m going to try. I won’t listen to Hawkfrost anymore. I’ll remind him that no cat would ever make him deputy if they knew he’d lied about a sign from StarClan.”

“That’s a good idea,” Leafpool meowed. “But be careful you—”

She had to break off as Littlecloud, on the other side of the pool, lifted his head, then rose to his paws and arched his back in a long stretch. Barkface was stirring too, and Willowpaw woke, sprang up right away, and pattered across the moss-covered rocks to her mentor.

“It was so scary—but amazing!” she exclaimed, and added more quietly, “I wish you’d been there.” Leafpool’s respect for the apprentice increased as she saw how Willowpaw understood that Mothwing didn’t meet with StarClan. She was also very relieved that Willowpaw had been exhilarated by her vision of StarClan’s world, not paralyzed by fear.

“I wish I’d been there too,” Mothwing replied.

“Maybe one day?” Willowpaw mewed.

Mothwing didn’t say anything, but Leafpool could see she didn’t share her apprentice’s confidence.

“Leafpool, what do you think the sign meant?” Willowpaw asked anxiously. “Storm clouds! Do you think there’s trouble coming for our Clans?”

Leafpool flipped the end of her tail across Willowpaw’s mouth, with a glance at Barkface and Littlecloud to make sure they hadn’t heard.

“Medicine cats don’t usually speak of their signs,” she explained. “Not until they’re ready to interpret them to their Clan. Yes, I think it means trouble,” she added. “But it might be as well to say nothing to any cat yet. There’s no sense in spreading alarm until we know more.”

Willowpaw nodded seriously and Leafpool felt a pang of guilt that she wasn’t being entirely open with the young apprentice. Littlecloud and Barkface showed no signs of troubling dreams, so Spottedleaf’s sign must have been for ThunderClan and RiverClan alone. And there was one cat who connected both Clans: Hawkfrost!

As Leafpool followed the path that led out of the hollow she silently thanked StarClan that Mothwing had trusted her enough to tell her about Hawkfrost’s false sign. But she couldn’t be sure that Mothwing would have the courage to defy her brother, whatever she said. She had too much to lose.

A shadow fell across the hollow as Leafpool reached the top of the path. She looked up to see that a cloud had drifted across the moon. Her pelt prickled as a cold breeze swept through the circle of bushes and she felt once more the rushing wind of her dream. She was sure that terrible trouble was coming—and somehow Hawkfrost was involved.

Brambleclaw stood in the clearing and watched the hunting patrols leave through the thorn tunnel. The dawn patrol had already left, and the early-morning mist was beginning to clear.

Above the trees the sky was a pale, distant blue, promising a warm day later. Soon the sun would rise.

The tabby tom glanced around, anxious to make sure that all duties were being covered. The fresh-kill pile was low, but the hunting patrols would take care of that. Daisy was yawning at the entrance to the nursery, watching her kits play-fighting in front of her. Leafpool crossed the camp to the elders’ den, where Mousefur had just emerged, scratching her ear vigorously with one hind paw. Every cat looked sleek and well-fed; even slender Leafpool had grown quite plump. The famine in their old home had become nothing more than an unpleasant memory.

Behind Brambleclaw the branches of the warriors’ den rustled; he glanced back to see Ashfur slipping between them and stopping to give his pelt a quick grooming.

Brambleclaw padded up to him. Whitepaw had gone with her mentor, Brackenfur, on hunting patrol, so the apprentices wouldn’t be training together today.

“Where’s Birchpaw?” he asked. “This would be a good time for a training session.”

Ashfur narrowed his eyes. “I can mentor my own apprentice,” he meowed. “I’ve arranged to give him an assessment today, actually.”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Brambleclaw replied. “Remind him about the fox traps, just in case.”

Ashfur stalked off toward the apprentices’ den without replying. Birchpaw emerged when his mentor called him and listened to his instructions, paws working impatiently in the ground. Then he headed for the camp entrance, stopping for a brief word with Thornclaw as the brown warrior emerged from the tunnel with fresh-kill in his jaws. At last Birchpaw left, bounding away with his tail in the air. Ashfur gave Brambleclaw another resentful glare before he followed.